Lawmakers consider hiring 20 fewer judges to save money for roads

DENVER - Lawmakers are considering hiring only 43 judges - 20 less than originally planned - so there will be more money for highways. The judges will be hired over three years and will cost the state $15.3 million a year, including their staff.

More of the money will also come from raising court filing fees, which means less money will be diverted from transportation funds under the state's complicated budget laws.

A Senate panel backed the compromise Tuesday, a move that Sen. Brandon Shaffer said was made because of opposition from road contractors. Sen. Steve Johnson, R-Fort Collins, said Republicans were also able to pressure Democrats to change the plan because adding judges requires a two-thirds vote in the full Senate.

The state budget can increase only 6 percent over the previous year's budget. Anything above that amount must be spent on transportation projects.

To pay for the judges, court filing fees would be taken from the overall state account and put in a separate account. That will leave less money in the main fund, reducing the amount that's counted against the 6 percent limit and funneled into transportation.

The proposal won't hurt transportation funding in the next fiscal year but it will mean a loss of $7 million for roads in 2008-2009, $11 million less in 2009-2010 and $25 million less in 2010-11, Johnson said.

Lawmakers have said the transportation department is expected to get more than $1 billion in funding next year.

Supporters of hiring more judges have said the courts need to catch up with the state's growth in population and that companies consider a state's legal climate when deciding where to do business.

The Colorado Civil Justice League, which represents businesses supporting tort reform, backs the measure.

It's not clear yet how much Republican support there is for the compromise on the funding. Johnson was the only GOP member of the Senate Appropriations Committee to vote for it. Senate Minority Leader Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, said judges are needed but the money should come from the state's overall budget, meaning other items might have to be cut in order to pay for the new judges.

Under the proposal, filing fees for county court disputes involving less than $15,000, typically bad checks and debt collection cases, would go from $46 to $55, and fees for bigger cases in district court, like contract disputes or personal injury cases, would go from $136 to $151.

Filings in divorce cases would go rise $5 to $189.